Bottle cap



Patented Apr. 20, 1948 half to C. Bland Jamison, Beverly Hills, andv one-half to Arthur E. Wright, Los Angeles, y'

Calif.

. Application ctober 12, 1943, Serial No. 505,958

This invention relates to plastic closure caps for bottles and the like.

Several designs of closure caps are known in the art wherein rings are employed to constrict the cap skirt about the neck bead of a bottle, such rings being elements made separately from the caps. Such caps have been relatively impracticable, however, because of the cost as well as the diiculties of using them in automatic capping machines, since the rings become separated from the cap or improperly positioned thereon.

It is one of the primary objects of my invention to provide a plastic closure cap wherein a skirt-constricting ring is cast as an integral part of the cap skirt, being integrally connected thereto by a frangible web or webs, which web is of suicient strength to maintain the ring in proper position as long as may be necessary, but which web is easily severed by the capping machine.

Other advantages are inherent in the invention and how those as well as the primary object hereinabove stated are achieved will be best understood from the following detailed description of a presently preferred example, for which purposes I shall refer to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view;

Fig. 2 is a section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a medial section showing the cap applied to the neck of a bottle; and

Fig. 4 is a side elevation showing the cap applied -to the neck of a bottle.

In the drawings I show my closure cap as comprising an end wall 5, a cylindrical skirt 6 having circumferentially spaced, longitudinal V-slots l and a skirt-constricting ring 8, all molded as an integral unit.

My cap may be made of any of a number of well-known plastic molding compounds such, for instance, as lthe cellulose acetates, cellulose acetate butyrates and the synthetic resins, all of which have the requisite amount of flexibility and frangibility for the purposes of my invention.

The skirt is molded with an inwardly disposed flange I0* adjacent its bottom edge, which flange engages under the maximum diameter portion of the conventional marginal bead B of rounded cross section found on beverage bottles and the like. The V-slots or serrations 1 enable the cap to be radially expanded to pass over the maximum diameter portion of the neck bead and also facilitate stripping the cap from the mold during manufacture.

As initially molded, the ring 8 is integrally connected with the skirt adjacent its top by means 2 Claims. (c1. 215- 4 5) of web l5, which web is sufficiently thin as to be easily frangible. Thus, as the cap is posi- Itioned on the top of the bottle neck and the plunger (not shown) of the capping machine presses downwardly on the end wall 5, the skirt is first forced over the bead B of the bottle Iuntil the end wall presses against the end of the bottle neck. Then movement of the collet of the capping machine, not shown, downwardly over the skirt engages the ring 8 and severs it from the-skirt by breaking the connecting web I5, and then slides the ring downwardly along the skirt until the ring is in the position of Fig. 3, wherein it prevents expansion of the skirt and thus retains flange I0 under the maximum diameter portion of the bead B.

It is preferable to secure a cork or other resilient liner 20 to the inner surface of the end wall 5, which liner is compressed between the end wall and the bottle neck when the cap is in position on the neck of the bottle.

While, in the foregoing, I have resorted to considerable detail of structure and associationv of parts in Edescribing a particular example of my invention, I wish it to be understood that I have done so merely to make my invention understood and that I do not limit my invention to such details. On the contrary, my invention is only Ato be limited as appears in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A closure adapted to close a Vcontainer having a mouth and an external locking bead below the mouth of the container, said closure comprising a cap, which has a top anda depending integral skirt, said skirt having inwardly projecting securing means for engagement beneath the annular external locking bead of the container, a ring, and frangible connecting means between said cap and ring to prevent said cap and ring from becoming separated prior to use, said ring being positioned by said frangible connecting means above said securing means and so that the axes of the inner surfacey of said ring 4and the outer surface of said skirt are coincident, said cap, ring, and frangible connecting means being integral and formed of the same material, said ring, frangible connecting means,"`and skirt being constructed and arranged so that said ring may be slid downwardly on said skirt only when said frangible connecting means has been broken and so that said ring may then hold said securing means beneath the annular external locking bead of the container.

2. A closure adapted to close a container having a mouth and an external locking bead below the mouth of the container, said closure comprising -a cap having a top, a depending integral serrated skirt, a ring, and frangible connecting means between the skirt and ring to normally retain the ring integrally connected to the skirt intermediate the ends of the latter, said skirt gradually thickeningu in cross-section :from I said connecting means to its bottom end, said cap, skirt;

-ring and frangible connecting means being integral and formed of time same material, and said skirt, ring and frangible connecting means being constructed and arranged so that said :ring

may be slid downwardly on the skirt only when said frangible connecting means has been broken and so that said ring, by engaging that portion of .the skirt having a gradually thickening crosssection may cause the inner surface of the bottom end portion of the skirt to engage under said locking bead of the container.

JAN DE SWART.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITES) STATES PATENTS 

